


Impressions

by ThreeLittleDucks



Series: What Remains [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-11-04 23:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11001492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThreeLittleDucks/pseuds/ThreeLittleDucks
Summary: First impressions of Sara Ryder





	1. Cora Harper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of knives and hand grenades

“We need to update her profile picture”. Cora thought when she meet Sara Ryder. The current picture, taken almost a year ago, didn’t quite match the recon specialist standing to greet her. They were both dark haired woman, below average in height. Fair skinned, though the current Sara was a bit paler. The real difference was the scars.

Three lines tore across the right side of her face, from the front of her brow back across to where jaw meet skull, the middle scar cutting across her eye. Her artificial eye, Cora realised as her hand came up to grasp the one offered by Sara, the metallic gleam not quite matching the natural orb that sat next to it.

Realising that, Cora automatically looked at Sara’s left hand, and the metal limb that extended up to the short sleeve of her shirt. “It won’t bite.”

Cora straightened, flushing as she was caught staring. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m not upset.” Sara flashed a wide smile. “I’ve been getting that a lot of stares lately.”

“You do know you can cover that with a synthetic skin? Right?”

“Sure. The docs offered me some when they fitted me with the hand. But I turned them down.” Sara’s smile turned mischievous. “After all, it would only get in the way of this.” Sara brought her metal hand up and flicked the wrist. Cora recoiled automatically as a 20 centimeter blade shot of the prosthetic. “Cool, huh? I mean it wasn’t my first option, but they nixed my hand grenade idea. Heh. Get it ‘hand’ grenade?” Sara wiggled her fingers and still exposed knife.

Cora simultaneously groaned and stepped back from the exposed weapon. Apparently the Ryder twins shared the same sense of humor. “Yes, I get it. Could you put that away please?”

“Oh, Sorry.” Another flick and the weapon retracted. “Anyway, you’re my dad’s XO?”

“That’s right. And I’ll be showing you around. Starting with…”

“The armoury?”

Cora just shook her head. Sara was crazy.


	2. Liam Kosta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam hits the floor

Liam’s eyes open with a groan. He tried to sit up only to be restrained by a hand on his chest. 

“Easy there,” Scott said. “You took a beating just now.” 

Liam slumped back down, and groaned again. His everything hurt. “Did anyone get the name of the shuttle that used me as a landing pad?”

“Yeah, Sara Ryder.” Scott replied jerking his head at his sister standing just behind him. “And it wasn’t that bad. I don’t think you even lost consciousness. Better than most people who go a hand to hand with Sara the first time.”

“Got a bit of a glass jaw there, Kosta?” Sara smirked. “I didn't think I hit you that hard.” Scars aside, Sara wasn’t really that intimidating. On the short side actually. That, and being told she was still recovering from an injury and still doing physical therapy led him to try and take it easy on her when she walked into the gym asking if anyone wanted to spar. Despite Scott warning him before hand. Well, now he knew better.The girl hit like a krogan.

“Alright team, what happened?” The Pathfinder asked as he entered the room.

“Sara wanted to spar with someone...” Scott started.

“...and Mr. Kosta here took the bait.” Alec finished. He shook his head. “Come on Sara, let’s give you a real workout.”

“Alright!”

Liam managed to sit up as the father and daughter pair made their way to the mats on the other side of the room. Then he watched with surprise as the short woman went toe to toe with her N7 father and gave as good as she got.

“Sara was born with scars on her knuckles.” Scott said, plopping down beside Liam. “Never meet a fight she didn’t like. Pretty sure she picked a few with me before we were born. I mean look at this.” Scott lifted his shirt and pointed at his side.

“Pretty sure that’s a birthmark.”

“Yeah.” Scott let go of his shirt. “But in all seriousness. Sara’s a scrapper. Always has been. This,” He pointed at the other two Ryders, “Is her idea of fun. Get on her bad side and I wouldn’t want to take her with anything less than a krogan. Maybe two.”

Liam nodded, watching as Sara was knocked down. She was back on her feet in a heartbeat.

Sara was a tough little thing.


	3. Vetra Nyx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dangerous

“Let’s pick it up a bit people! We’re fourteen months late!”

Once the confirmation that the human ark had arrived spread through the Nexus everything went a little crazy. The station lights were on for the first time in months. Orders had come down to get the Tempest out of storage for the human Pathfinder, who was being sent to Eos. Vetra didn’t know if they would be able to do anything about that irradiated dustball, but at least it was a step forward. 

She turned to see two human walking across the landing pad. Years of working in a less than legal fashion had taught the turian to quickly read people. She recognized the taller, lighter haired female as Cora Harper, the Pathfinder teams second in command. Her walk and stance marked her as military. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a problem there. People from certain walks of life had issues when they found out what Vetra had done for a living in the Milky Way. The other one…

“So you’re the one who’s making everything happen.” 

She was  **tiny.** Humans were generally shorter than turians, but the Pathfinder seemed smaller than normal. On the other hand…

“Vetra. Vetra Nyx. Initiative wrangler, provisioner, gunner, and everything in between.”

The way the Pathfinder moved screamed danger. Her scars, and artificial hand clearly showed that she had been in a few scraps and come out on top. If she didn’t have at least one weapon on her Vetra would eat her visor.

“Sara Ryder. Human Pathfinder.” She grinned, white teeth flashing. Turians might have different body language, But Vetra had been around enough humans to recognize genuine happiness as the Pathfinder looked over the Tempest.

Yeah the Pathfinder was dangerous.

But it might be the kind of dangerous the Initiative needed right now.


	4. Peebee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unexpected

_Not what I was expecting_. Peebee thought as she slammed to the ground. She had meant to push the human, the Pathfinder, away from the Remnant console. Instead, she found herself on a quick flight to the ground, a boot on her chest and a pistol leveled at her face. “Uhh, hi?”

“Explanation, please.” Mildly amused and very reasonable sounding.

“Explantation, right! I don’t know how you activated those glyphs, but you have to let them cycle through their channels.” That seemed to satisfy the human woman, the boot came of her chest.

“SAM, talk to me.”

“ _System has stabilized. I’m establishing a connection._ ”

Peebee was just pushing herself of the ground when she heard a familiar sound came from one side. “Oh, crap.” Her hand was just going for her sidearm, when the Pathfinder stepped between her and the rising Observer. A biotic shield flared to life, deflecting the bot’s laser into a nearby Assembler.  
The following battle was surprisingly one sided. Peebees first tangle with the Remnant had been a lot messier, resulting in some nasty burns and a sore arm from a Breacher. But the Pathfinder and her team tore the bots apart. Literally. The Pathfinder had pinned the last Assembler to the ground and used biotics to twist its head of.

It was pretty badass.


	5. Drack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When I grow up

“Who are you?”

Drack hadn’t expected to run into any humans, especially Nexus humans, in a kett outpost. Oh, sure that crazy asari might have tried to sneak by to poke around that alien tech the kett were so interested in. But he didn’t think the Nexus had any humans with the quads to poke around the kett like this. Then Vetra Nyx of all people tells him that he’s talking to the Pathfinder.

“So, Drack was it?”

“Yeah, Drack. Of clan Nakmor.” He bent down to carve a tusk from the wraith he had just tossed through a window.

“You know I could use someone with your experience.”

“Ha! I’m too old to be carrying humans through a fight. No offense.”

“None taken.” Was the amused sounding reply.

“Well I’m going to find more kett to shoot. Try not to get killed.” And with that he walked off.

But he still managed to hear when the Pathfinder turned to her team and said. “I want to be just like him when I grow up.”

Drack Snorted. Kid's alright.


	6. Jaal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Troubling

She arrived with her ship in flames. She came down the ramp by herself, hands raised and open. She waited patiently as two soldiers scanned her and did not resist as they relieved her of her weapons. A pistol in a shoulder holster, another in her boot. Two knives from the small of her back.

She was safely escorted through the city to Evfra. She seemed unperturbed by the Resistance’s leader’s distrust. She accepted Jaal’s presence aboard her ship with a smile.

“Thank you for trusting me.”

“I don’t.” He said bluntly. “But I can always kill you in your sleep.”

She laughed at that. Not loudly, but quietly. A small chuckle, as if amused by the antics of a child. 

“Jaal Ama Darav.” She looked him in the  eye. She raised her artificial hand and revealed one of the weapons the guards had  _ not _ relieved her of. “You would not be the first to try.”

Jaal frowned. This Pathfinder was troubling.


End file.
